


fool for you

by illuminatiny (fleurdelilitu)



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Light Angst, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Anne Shirley, Oblivious Gilbert Blythe, Pining, Queer Themes, Unrequited Love, Vignette, and write about oblivious nerds pining for each other in the mid-nineties, it’s all dream pop and summer nostalgia and yearning, maybe a bit of a songfic tbh, sometimes you just gotta pretend the world and your obligations don’t exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25549363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleurdelilitu/pseuds/illuminatiny
Summary: Anne and Gilbert briefly reconnect at a housewarming party before Diana's wedding.1990s Anne of the Island AU.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 41





	fool for you

Anne walks into the room and the sight of her knocks the breath out of his lungs.

Gilbert tries not to feel bitter about it.

She is radiant, as always. She’s laughing at something Diana has said, laying her hand on the other woman’s arm as she throws her head back. Her eyes are crinkled closed in mirth, and tendrils of copper are pulling loose from her messy braid to lick along her neck and frame her face. In her loose sunflower print dress and trusty burgundy doc martens, she looks so comfortably, familiarly, _Anne_ that for half a second Gil’s heart stops and he wonders if he is caught in a dream. Then she looks up and catches his eye, and he can see her stubbornly push back the panic his presence immediately instills in her. Anne was never particularly good at hiding her emotions.

Gilbert winces and something like shame flashes in Anne’s grey green eyes. He looks past her to Di, who hasn’t noticed their exchange and has pulled away to greet another of her guests with a delighted smile on her face. Gilbert glances back to Anne with a raised eyebrow, and hopes beyond hope that she will drop her evasion act for the night and maintain some kind of cordiality, for Fred and Di’s sake at least.

She meets his gaze with a determined set to her jaw, and walks over to him. “Hello Gil.”

Despite his desire to avoid conflict, a spark of irritation jolts through him at the familiarity of the nickname, and he responds dryly: “Long time no see, Anne-girl.” Her cheeks flush at that, and her lashes lower demurely. He’s successfully embarrassed her, as intended, and he can’t even bring himself to feel vindicated. He groans internally, and offers her a tight smile. “Come on, I’ll fix you a gin and tonic in the kitchen.”

Fred and Diana’s kitchen is small, empty and brightly lit. Gilbert realises too late that bringing Anne with him was an unnecessary prolonging of contact time, when she could be mingling with their old friends and peers in the living room. She follows him without question though, and sits on the bench as he pours out gin into two tall glasses. He is hyper aware of her in his peripheral vision. His entire body is on edge. This whole situation is so normal for them, and it makes the silence between them scream loudly. He is thankful for the murmur of voices and strains of music filtering in through the open kitchen door. He makes their drinks double shot, and thinks cynically that they’re going to need it. He adds ice and a squeeze of lime, then tops up each glass with the tonic. When he chances a glance up at her she’s pulling her gaze away from his hands, and her eyes bear down on him like the sea at storm as he passes her a drink.

“To Fred and Diana,” he says, deadpan, lifting his drink to her and then downing nearly half the glass. She startles, then lets out a broken laugh, her eyes tracing the long line of his throat as he swallows. Gilbert ignores this. “To Fred and Diana,” she parrots back at him, and takes a gulp of her own. He leans back against the door frame and lets himself look at her. He feels greedy, drinking in the sight of her milky skin and ruddy hair under the kitchen light. The skirt of her dress is hiked up above her knees, and her legs are open and dangling lazily. She still looks like everything he has ever wanted, and he wonders, briefly, if the sight of her is ever going to stop hurting.

“How have you been?” The question jumps out of him and surprises them both. She looks guarded and wary, and he is reminded suddenly of the stray cat they had found that first summer after her senior year. She had been so devastated, so raw with grief over Matthew’s passing and figuring out how to rebuild her friendship with Diana after their explosive break up. She had been immediately endeared to the tiny, angry ball of black and grey fluff that they had found, naming the creature ‘Princess Cordelia,’ and putting long hours into endearing herself to its whims.

“I’ve been fine,” she starts. “I’ve been good, yeah. It’s nice being back on the farm, with Marilla and the twins. Even if I do have to suffer Rachel Lynde.” He barks a laugh at that, and she throws him a half smile that warms him all over. “And you? You stayed in Nova Scotia again this summer.” It’s a statement, not a question. She isn’t meeting his eyes, sipping at her drink. “I trust you’ve been keeping occupied…?” He narrows his eyes at that, wonders what it is that Anne is trying to talk around.

“Yeah,” he responds shortly, “I’ve been working admin at the Kingsport hospital.” Anne nods slowly, her eyes far off and shuttered. “And Christine?” Ah. There it is. He would have thought Anne would not be so tactless as to bring their college friends up, considering how carefully she has been avoiding him on campus. “Is she also in Kingsport for summer?” Gilbert’s eyes track over her face, but she is still staring mulishly at the kitchen window. “No,” he says, and he can hear the tension in his own voice. “No, I imagine she would be back in Bolingbroke. Same as Phil. And Roy.” That brings a flush to her cheek, and her gaze darts up to meet his, aghast, before flickering away again.

“You _imagine_? I would’ve thought you would be keeping closer contact with the woman you spend all your time with.” Gilbert can’t help the laugh that pops out at that, quick and snarky. “We keep in touch,” he manages to say, mildly. “As friends tend to do.” The jibe hits, and Anne raises her chin, a familiar coolness crystallising her features, and his heart aches for it. Anne Shirley’s cold fury, ready to strike him down for daring to cross her.

How comforting her antagonism is, after these months of absence.

“She’s very beautiful, Christine.” The statement is offered coolly, and Gilbert is bemused by it. He thinks of Christine, her dark, tumbling curls, honeyed skin and velvety eyes, and tries to figure out what Anne is trying to get at. “I suppose she’s quite your type, sure,” he says easily. Anne turns to stare at him properly, looking as bemused as he feels, and he realises he just can’t figure her out anymore. He supposes, somewhat bitterly, that Roy would know what she was thinking. “ _My_ type?” Her voice is incredulous, but the cold look has melted, so he doesn’t let his smile slip. “Sure, you always were a sucker for a raven haired beauty,” he teases. “I hear you’ll be giving Di away, on that note.”

Anne just looks at him with her mouth slightly open for a beat, before taking the peace offering for what it is. “Yes, of course. She has the most beautiful dress picked out, and wonderful pink roses.” Anne’s voice goes dreamy, before her eyes flutter away again and her smile fades. “If only her parents weren’t being so stubborn about it.” Her scowl is fierce and Gilbert is struck by a sudden longing to trace the creases in her brow until they smooth out.

He had heard from Fred already that, of the Barrys, only Diana’s sister Minnie May would be in attendance for Sunday’s ceremony. George Barry was not inclined to give his daughter away to another woman. Fred had fretted over the idea of even having a wedding, arguing that tonight’s housewarming party would be enough for her to celebrate their love. Diana, however, was even more headstrong and stubborn about the matter following her parents’ hurtful response. The influence of Anne, Gil reckoned. Still, there was something sweet about Anne taking Mr Barry’s place, especially given how long it had taken her to accept Fred as Di’s new girlfriend in the beginning.

“I’m sure it will be a beautiful day, nonetheless,” Gilbert manages finally, taking another gulp of his drink. A door slams out back, and the familiar opening bars of Cherry-Coloured Funk float down from the hall. Someone lets at a rolling cackle in the living room, and Gilbert turns to Anne with raised eyebrows. “Shall we?” Anne meets his gaze with a startlingly bright grin, and takes his arm without hesitation. They slowly move back into the living room, and his head already feels a bit dizzy with drink and desire. He had hoped he would have moved past this. Anne lingers on his arm for a beat when they come to the end of the hall, then she turns to him with a beatific smile. “A dance? For old time’s sake?” He laughs quietly in response and spins her out, watching her throw her head back in delight, dreamily swaying on the spot for a spell before reaching her free hand out to Diana and dancing in loops and circles between them.

For half a minute, he feels transported back in time four years, to that first summer of friendship, where grief and joy wove them together to a soundtrack of beach dances, road trips and gauzy dream pop sing-a-longs.

Then the song finishes, abrupt as ever, the mournful opening strums of the next song start up, and Gilbert drops Anne’s hand like it’s scalding. She turns to him with an open smile, her laugh fading when he can’t meet her eyes. Hope Sandoval’s dulcet tones croon of unrequited love and Gilbert lifts his glass and mumbles something about a refill, heading back towards the kitchen, alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from The Cranberries "Linger," in-text songs mentioned are "Cherry-Coloured Funk" by Cocteau Twins and "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star respectively, and tbh all three of these 90s tracks are just about that devastating kind of love-lorn yearning.
> 
> This little one shot has its roots in a more extensive Anne-centric 1990s AotI AU which I have sworn to myself not to post until it’s completed, on account of my other work being dreadfully neglected in the face of Life. I am, however, In Love with the idea of lesbian Di and, for my own sanity, needed to share a snapshot of her giving not a single damn about her parents’ conservative mores (that girl is going to marry her soft butch wife, and then she’s going to do it all over again in a decade when it’s finally legal).
> 
> Thank you for reading and stay safe!


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